Dropper for use at night or in other low-light conditions

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to droppers that can be used at nighttime or in low-light conditions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to co-pending non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 12/904,491, filed on Oct. 14, 2010, which is a continuation of and claims priority to non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/535,918, filed on Sep. 27, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,837,069, both of which claims priority to Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/721,563, filed on Sep. 27, 2005, the disclosures of each of the aforementioned applications being hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to droppers.

More particularly, one embodiment of the present invention is directed to a dropper with one or more of the following attributes: able to take in and dispense liquids by drops, containing a bulb for manual control of the intake and dispensing of liquids by drops, able to provide an indication of how much liquid is in the dropper, having a coating that illuminates in night or other low-light conditions so that the amount of liquid in the dropper is visible, and built to meet applicable industry standards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A light source 1 is housed within the top portion 2 of an apparatus 3. The top portion 2 of the apparatus 3 is, in one embodiment, sealably connected 4 to a dropper portion or tube 5 of the apparatus 3. A power source 6 is incorporated within the apparatus 3 and provides power to a light source 1 optionally connected to a timer 7. The apparatus includes a switch 8 for turning on the light source 1, and the dropper portion 5 of the apparatus 3 may further include a coating or other markings 9 able to provide an indication of how much liquid is in the dropper.

Among those benefits and improvements that have been disclosed, other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures. The figures constitute a part of this specification and include illustrative embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely illustrative of the invention that may be embodied in various forms. In addition, each of the examples given in connection with the various embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Further, the figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A light source 1 is housed within the top portion 2 of an apparatus 3. The top portion 2 of the apparatus 3 is, in one embodiment, sealably connected 4 to a dropper portion or tube 5 of the apparatus 3. A power source 6 is incorporated within the apparatus 3 and provides power to a light source 1 optionally connected to a timer 7. The apparatus includes a switch 8 for turning on the light source 1, and the dropper portion 5 of the apparatus 3 may further include a coating or other markings 9 able to provide an indication of how much liquid is in the dropper.

A dropper is a necessity for any household containing infants and/or small children. This is because medicine for infants and small children is generally found in liquid form. Careful attention is required to insure that a proper dose of medicine is given to each child. Sick children frequently need to receive some medication at nighttime. One example of such a circumstance is the need to administer fever-reducing medicine to a child with a high temperature. It is difficult to administer the proper dosage at nighttime without turning on the lights and risking fully waking the sick child. If the sick child is fully woken, it becomes very difficult to coax the child back to sleep. Additionally, it is often difficult to locate the child's mouth in the dark, which can lead to spills of the medicine in the dropper if the medicine is not dispensed directly into the mouth. The invention, a dropper for use in nighttime or other lowlight conditions, solves the problem of administering the safe and correct dose of medicine without fully waking the sick child. One means of implementing the invention is to have a dropper containing a small LED light source in the top portion of the dropper. The LED light can be activated by depressing the bulb at the top of the dropper. The LED light will thereby be illuminated for a set period of time, e.g. one minute, which will allow the adult administering the dose of medicine to confirm that the proper amount of liquid is in the dropper. The illuminated dropper will also allow the adult to locate the child's mouth easily and administer the medicine with a minimum of fuss and spills. The dropper would contain a long-lasting battery source to power the activation of the LED light.

As mentioned above, another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a dropper with one or more of the following attributes: able to take in and dispense liquids by drops, containing a bulb for manual control of the intake and dispensing of liquids by drops, able to provide an indication of how much liquid is in the dropper, having a coating that illuminates in night or other low-light conditions so that the amount of liquid in the dropper is visible, and built to meet applicable industry standards.

In other embodiments, the dropper may have one or more of the following attributes:

-   -   Be simple, cost effective and disposable.     -   Dropper may have notches on the tube filled in with luminescent         material.     -   Be capable of indoor or outdoor application.     -   Have solar panels for powering the LED light.

While a number of embodiments of the present invention have been described, it is understood that these embodiments are illustrative only, and not restrictive, and that many modifications may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. 

1-2. (canceled)
 3. A device for dispensing liquids, comprising: a dropper tube with a top portion and a bottom portion, the bottom portion medically suitable to intake and dispense medicament from an inner surface of the dropper tube; a squeezable bulb sealably connected to the top portion of the dropper tube; and an illumination coating disposed about a surface of the dropper tube.
 4. The device of claim 3, wherein the illumination coating is disposed about an outside surface of the dropper tube.
 5. The device of claim 3, wherein the illumination coating is disposed about the bottom portion of the dropper tube.
 6. The device of claim 5, wherein the illumination coating is disposed about an outside surface of the bottom portion of the dropper tube.
 7. The device of claim 3, further comprising an outer surface of the dropper tube comprising notches.
 8. The device of claim 7, wherein the illumination coating is disposed about the notches.
 9. The device of claim 8, wherein the illumination coating is disposed in the notches.
 10. The device of claim 3, further comprising a second illumination coating disposed about the outside of the dropper tube.
 11. The device of claim 10, wherein the second illumination coating is disposed about notches in the outer surface of the dropper tube and the illumination coating is disposed about the remainder of one of the outside and inside surface of the dropper tube.
 12. A notched device for measuring liquids, comprising: a dropper tube with a top portion and a bottom portion and an inner surface and an outer surface, the bottom portion of the dropper tube being configured to intake and dispense liquids from the inner surface of the dropper tube; a squeezable bulb sealably connected to the top portion of the dropper tube; a plurality of contours in the outer surface of the dropper tube that are substantially aligned with one another; and an illumination coating disposed about at least one of the plurality of contours in the outer surface of the dropper tube.
 13. The device of claim 10, further comprising at least one measurement adjacent one or more of the plurality of contours in the surface of the dropper.
 14. The device of claim 11, wherein the illumination coating is disposed about the at least one measurement.
 15. The device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of contours are aligned to accurately reflect an amount of liquid within the dropper tube.
 16. The device of claim 10, wherein the illumination coating is disposed to reflect liquid within the dropper tube in low-light conditions.
 17. The device of claim 10, wherein the contours are notches in the outer surface of the dropper tube.
 18. The device of claim 15, wherein the notches are vertically aligned about the outer surface of the dropper tube.
 19. The device of claim 10, further comprising a second illumination coating disposed about one of the inner and outer surface of the dropper tube.
 20. The device of claim 17, wherein the illumination coating disposed about at least one of the plurality of contours differs from the second illumination coating disposed about one of the inner and outer surface of the dropper tube. 